I was visiting with friends recently when one of the kids - we'll call him Joey - came from behind the house to ask a question."Dad, can I shoot a woodcock?" The youngster, about 10 years old, had a BB gun and had apparently spent the morning shooting birds.His dad told him there's an actual season for shooting woodcocks, so no, he couldn't kill one. So Joey went back to shooting robins and grackles and sparrows. When I asked Joey how many birds he'd shot that day, he said eight. When I … [Read more...]

If you're following along with today's story, we saw the robin babies getting more active in the nest, and then venturing out onto the window ledge. (See Part One)I've been fascinated the last few days with how much the birds had grown in the two weeks since they hatched. But I was even more surprised by the progress just this morning. They went from awkwardly falling all over themselves to purposely getting out of the nest onto the ledge. (See Part Two) When I left them at about 1 PM, all … [Read more...]

This morning, I noticed that Mrs. Robin's babies were getting active in the nest. Crowded, antsy, excited. So I brought the camera outside and set it up on the tripod, just in case anything exciting happened.It was only yesterday I noticed one bird trying to perch on the side of the nest and I thought it might be cute to watch them stretching and puffing up their feathers.What I didn't expect? That today was their last day in the nest.PART ONE: This is how the morning started, the bir … [Read more...]

It's been almost a week since I last reported on Mrs. Robin and her babies. I've been taking photos and video , but have just been too busy to post them.The biggest problem is that the little birds change so much every day:Over in the other garage window, there's been lots of activity. The second egg hatched, I think on May 22:All of this activity in the nests means that soon the babies will try out their wings. The morning doves are fortunate that their first … [Read more...]

Yesterday I shared some up close photos of Mrs. Robin's babies, and commented on how over the last few days they've gone from prehistoric creatures to almost birds. So imagine my surprise today when I checked in on the little family - the soft down has already become little feathers! Look at their spines and wings!Not only that, Mrs. Morning Dove has some big news from her nest.On Monday, I noticed that one of her eggs had a little bump on it. I wasn't sure if it was a flaw in the … [Read more...]

The good news with today's update on Mrs. Robin and her babies is that egg #4 is still in the nest. Whether or not it's going to actually hatch is another story.But the three babies who are here are growing by leaps and bounds! They're holding their heads up with beaks open in anticipation of breakfast. Their feathers are starting to come in. Just a few days ago they looked like science projects, and today they're starting to look like actual birds.I'm fascinated watching M … [Read more...]

Mrs. Robin snuck away this afternoon - to do a little worm hunting, I imagine - so I used that opportunity to sneak into the garage attic to check on the babies. As of yesterday, we had three babies and one unhatched egg.Today, I see three scrawny but growing nestlings ... but no egg.It's possible that the egg is underneath one of the baby birds. There's also the very real possibility that another bird stole the egg. I didn't see any shells in the yard but I'm actually kind of afraid … [Read more...]

Curiosity got the best of me this morning, so I snuck outside to see if I could find a moment when Mrs. Robin was off the nest so I could check the hatched egg count. This week found two eggs had hatched - two baby robins!Mrs. Robin had built her next on the ledge of one of our garage attic windows. (And that was quite a struggle!) That means I can go inside the garage attic, look through the window and see right into the nest without touching anything or, theoretically anyway, disturbing h … [Read more...]

If you're following along with the story of Mrs. Robin and her eggs, I have big news: two of the eggs have hatched!And I mean, just hatched.I was out with Bailey and noticed a robin's egg shell in the grass - it hadn't been there this morning. So I snuck up into the garage attic to peek through the window. Mrs. Robin saw me and flew off the nest just long enough for me to catch these photos of her first two babies!Two eggs down, two more to go! Isn't life … [Read more...]

Hopefully you're not sick of my updates about Mrs. Robin and her nest. But watching her overcome the obstacles to build the nest, and the fact that darling husband had to give her a helping hand, have bonded me to this bird and her baby egg.So imagine my surprise today when I went into the garage attic to peek on her and found ... three more eggs! The last two days Mrs. Robin has been fending off some attacks from a blue jay and crow. She's a feisty bird - and now I know why. Her family is … [Read more...]

Popular at Patheos Spirituality

Conversation about faith and animal-related issues is welcome, so please feel free to comment on posts and engage with other readers. However, PLEASE READ THE COMMENT POLICY to ensure that discussions remain calm and reasonable.